Danny Cowley on chances of more Portsmouth arrivals as he seeks to step up recruitment following Arsenal youngster's arrival

The Arsenal right-back completed a Fratton Park switch on Monday, representing the Blues’ second signing of a frustrating summer in the transfer market.

Cowley and his squad are presently on a week-long training camp in Spain, yet chief executive Andy Cullen and chief operations officer have stayed at home.

The pair remain hard at work on transfer deals as Pompey strive to add to their League One squad.

And Cowley is optimistic more fresh faces will be on the way.

He told The News: ‘Zak’s now arrived and we are hopeful more will follow.

‘The club are working really hard to try to make that happen. We know exactly what we want and they are working hard behind the scenes to sign the players we need.

‘It’s obvious where we need them.

‘Presently we’re in Spain doing double sessions and planning the training, we have done all our work in terms of identification and a lot of our recruitment work. We know the targets, the players that we want, this is now trying to make it happen.

‘Andy (Cullen), Tony Brown and Phil Boardman (head of recruitment) are working really hard to sign players we have identified.

‘We know we’ve got a lot of work to do. We would have liked to have done this work early, but it’s not always possible.’

Marlon Pack, the other summer signing at Fratton Park, has returned to training this week following a throat infection.

The issue sapped the midfielder’s energy and prompted him to take antibiotics, yet he has been able to attend the Spanish trip and feature in every session so far.

Now Pack and Swanson are among Cowley’s numbers, but he needs more bodies.

He added: ‘It’s like the actor going onto the film set and doesn’t know his lines, then the film’s not so good. That’s no different in football.

‘We need time with the group to be able to train them and build relationships, partnerships, getting the game idea to the forefront of their minds.

‘This is an important time. We’ve had 16 days of pre-season, really good days, we’ve put some brilliant work into the group, but haven’t got all the group together.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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